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Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Quarter-Career, 1990-2005

I want to formally announce that I am at a quarter of a career. I'm at a point where I've started to take note of different artists (see below) being referred to as "mid-career", and some of them haven't been working much longer than I have. This frightens me because they are famous and I am struggling. Maybe I missed the boat. Check out my latest rejection.

I need to buy some time to catch up or something to some of these midcareer artists only five years older than me, so I'm declaring myself at a quarter of my career. My mid-career point will be in 2020 when I'm 52. It's all done in fifteen year increments. I'm finished in 2050 when I'm 82. Here's my resume.

Am I still an "emerging artist"? I guess so. The best definition I have seen yet of "emerging artist" is Dieu Donne's"an artist who is professionally unrecognized but stylistically evolved". What is the opposite called, an artist who IS professionally recognized but NOT stylistically evolved? I know they exist! Does anybody have a suggestion?

I am ready for my Quarter-Career Retrospective if any museums want to get in touch with me.

The Whitney's press release and Susan Freudenheim's 2/13/05 NYTimes review both refer to Tim Hawkinson's Whitney exhibition as a being a mid-career show. Tim Hawkinson was born in 1960 and has been showing for two decades.

Michael Kimmelman opens his 3/4/05 NYTimesThomas Demandreview with the sentence, "a dozen years ago, Thomas Demand, whose generally stellar midcareer retrospective opens today at the Museum of Modern Art, was studying in London, at Goldsmiths College." Demand was born in 1964!!!

TheCalifornia Community Foundationoffers definitions for both mid-career and emerging artists seeking fellowships on it's website -"a mid-career visual artist — defined as an artist who has seven or more years of active professional participation in his/her field. Artists must have documented exhibition history, publications or other significant proof of professional accomplishments."

"an “emerging” visual artist — defined as an artist who has up to seven years of professional experience in his/her field. Artists must demonstrate outstanding artistic ability and potential to rise from a challenging or obscure position or condition in the community."

6 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Mid-career is not a point; it's a range, which in my estimation is actually the bulk of one's career. Meaning, there's plenty of time for any number of things to happen from complete neglect to outrageous fame and back again.

As for emerging, that's a moving target and depends on who's handing out the money/accolades/shows. I heard Kara Walker described as "emerging" last year.

Go Bill. It's true. Martin, do you read Ed Winklemans' blog? Today's post was stellar and addresses some of the problems artists trying to show are dealing with. Very helpful. What do you think about it?